City Invests $2 Million in Rescue Mission’s Harbor View Transitional Housing Facility
Funding will Upgrade San Diego Rescue Mission Facilities for Low Income Families

SAN DIEGO – In an effort to assist extremely low-income residents, the City of San Diego Redevelopment Agency approved funding of a $2 million forgivable loan for the Harbor View Project, a transitional housing facility located at 120 Elm Street in San Diego’s Uptown district.  In addition to City funding, another $20 million will be leveraged from other public and private sources for the revitalization the former Harbor View Hospital.  The refurbished facility will serve to consolidate activities and operations undertaken by the San Diego Rescue Mission (SDRM) and provide a host of housing and treatment facilities for San Diegans in desperate need of assistance.

The 94,000 square foot, 97-unit facility will offer important and much-needed transitional housing for the homeless residents and families.  Improvements to the Harbor View Project include:

• 89 beds for women and 196 beds for men who are enrolled in a long-term substance abuse recovery program
• 24 beds of transitional housing for men and 43 beds for women graduating from a long-term recovery program
• 27 beds for a special needs treatment center

The facility also includes a children’s playground, adult recreation facilities, fellowship hall, learning centers, an emergency shelter for homeless women and their children, kitchen and eating facilities and administrative offices.  The Harbor View Facility is within walking distance of public transportation, shopping, parks and other neighborhood amenities.

“The City is keenly aware of the need for shelter and services for the region’s homeless population,” said Debra Fischle-Faulk, assistant director of the City’s Community and Economic Development Department, which manages both the City’s Homeless Services Program and the Redevelopment Agency Affordable Housing Program that is funding the Harbor View facility.  “We believe that investing in the Harbor View facility, which consolidates the tremendous work done by San Diego Rescue Mission, is a positive step that will help San Diegans in desperate need of assistance.”

In addition to the $2 million Redevelopment Agency Affordable Housing Program loan, the project is expecting to receive more than $400,000 in grant funding from the San Diego Housing Commission, additional grants from the Federal Home Loan Bank’s Affordable Housing Program and the California Emergency Housing Assistance Program and Bank of the West, as well as an additional $12.7 million dollar loan from California Plan of Church Finance, Inc. 

“This is about helping San Diego's neediest get back on their feet.  The San Diego Rescue Mission has a great track record of helping people become productive once again,” said Housing Commission CEO Elizabeth Morris.  The Harbor View project is outside of a redevelopment project area, so the San Diego Housing Commission will project manage the City’s participation in the facility.

The San Diego Rescue Mission will serve as developer of the Harbor View project and has a 49-year history of providing shelter, meals, clothing, medical attention, educational opportunities, job skills and training and transitional housing for San Diego’s neediest homeless residents living in and near Downtown.  The Rescue Mission purchased the property in an effort to consolidate their organization from three separate locations around San Diego.  Residents served by Harbor View have extremely low incomes of 30 percent or less of Area Median Income; they will not pay rent while housed at the facility.

“Finding affordable housing is the first step in becoming a productive, independent member of society,” said Jim Jackson, Jr., President and CEO of San Diego Rescue Mission.  “We are so pleased that the City of San Diegounderstands this and has generously invested in our new facility.  This project will change the lives of thousands of people in the years to come.”

The City of San Diego’s Redevelopment Agency Affordable Housing Program was created by a partnership of the Redevelopment Agency (which includes the City’s Redevelopment Division of the Community and Economic Development Department, the Centre City Development Corporation and the Southeastern Economic Development Corporation) and the San Diego Housing Commission.   The program has funded a growing list of projects that will generate more affordable housing opportunities for San Diego residents.  In addition to funding for Harbor View, the Redevelopment Agency recently approved nearly $4 million for the 91-unit Talmadge Senior Village development and $5.5 million for Lillian Place, a 74-unit affordable housing development located in Downtown and designed for families. 

The goal of the City’s Redevelopment Affordable Housing Program is to increase the affordable housing inventory for very low- and low-income households, to assist people with moderate-income levels achieve homeownership and, on a case-by-case basis, to acquire andrehabilitate existing properties.  Proposals may be for residential or mixed-use developments; housing that is all low-income or is mixed-income; multi- or single-family dwelling units or a combination thereof; and rental or for-sale units.  Completed units could be available as early as 2005.

For more information about Harbor View and services, contact the San Diego Rescue Mission at (619) 687-3720 or visit www.sdrescue.org.

For more information about Harbor View and available affordable housing units citywide, contact the San Diego Housing Commission at (619) 231-9400 or visit www.sdhc.net.

For more information about the Redevelopment Agency Affordable Housing Program, contact the Community and Economic Development Department at (619) 533-4233 or email AffordableHousingNOFA@sandiego.gov. Additional affordable housing information is available on the City’s web site at www.sandiego.gov (type “affordable housing” in the search field).

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The City of San Diego Redevelopment Agency eliminates blight from designated areas, as well as achieves the goals of development, reconstruction and rehabilitation of residential, commercial, industrial, and retail districts.  Redevelopment is one of the most effective ways to breathe new life into deteriorated areas plagued by social, physical, environmental or economic conditions that act as a barrier to new investment by private enterprise.  The City of San Diego Redevelopment Agency consists of three divisions: the City Redevelopment Division (which provides overall agency management and is housed in the City of San Diego Communityand Economic Development Department), the Centre City Development Corporation and the Southeastern Economic Development Corporation.